Ivan IV, the sixteenth-century Russian tsar notorious for his reign of
terror, became an unlikely national hero in the Soviet Union during the
1940s. This book traces the development of Ivan's positive image,
placing it in the context of Stalin's campaign for patriotism. In
addition to historians' images of Ivan, the author examines literary and
artistic representations, including Sergei Eisenstein's famous film,
banned for its depiction of the tsar which was interpreted as an
allegorical criticism of Stalin.